Follow Me Pt. 2

Man, I feel this so strongly.

I talked in a previous Under the Oaks gathering, and I wanted to reference this today without getting too far off course already, but Apostle Ball had a gathering of his spiritual sons that would gather sometimes in Panama City and sometimes in Atlanta.

And I believe he came to call that Under the Oak.

Is that correct? Under the Oak, singular.

We multiplied it.

We're Under the Oaks now.

But one of the things that was always evident was that Yahweh plants a man, and in the planting of that man, he will allow that man and woman to grow together as a family, and a single seed becomes a family tree.

And when that single seed becomes a family tree, you'll ultimately find that nations will be able to find rest and shade under that tree, but also that that tree will put off acorns that can multiply into forest if we can go through the process of becoming who it is that he's designed us to be.

So that was an ode to Apostle Paul that we called this Under the Oaks because I did not want... what happened with him to stop with him and I didn't want what happened with him to stop just in his sons but as a spiritual grandson I wanted to be able he didn't like that language but but he's here but he's not going to correct that so so he we we we we love the idea that we get to be a part of something bigger than ourselves and that comes by way of making the decision to remain tethered and i mentioned that this morning i made a decision to remain tethered and he's made a decision to remain tethered and we've made a decision to remain tethered and those are not decisions you come to regret they really are not so we talked in a previous under the oaks gathering about uh becoming the first worshiper and in that begin to share some revelation about david uh being identified as a man of war when he was initially identified as a man of worship and allowing the mixture of that misidentification to actually cost him from being able to be, I believe, the father he was designed to be.

As much as we celebrate David, I believe it also cost him the ability to move into rest and think in terms of generation, not just taking territory.

Generations instead of just taking territory.

May we as leaders think less in terms of how to win the city and may we come to think more in terms of how to turn our hearts to sons and sons to turn their hearts to fathers and let that be the great manifestation of revival that we've come to be known for and that we long for.

so i want to give you something i wrote on the beach maybe a month or so ago shared it with tammy shared it also with kk and and elijah and maddie maybe just maybe the definition of what it actually means to be a great leader is to in essence be the first follower rather than becoming experts on leadership what if we had the integrity and humility to admit that we are novices at following both the ways and the person of jesus Remember Paul said, imitate me as I imitate Christ.

Not identifying himself as a great leader, but identifying himself rather as a great imitator of the great leader.

We talked about that word imitate that is translated sometimes follow, which is an inferior translation.

Imitate is a great translation.

Mimites is the word in Greek, and it's literally where we get our English word mimic.

So he's saying, mimic me as I mimic Christ.

That's 1 Corinthians 11, 1.

And I want to talk a little bit tonight about following, but following less in the sense of just lagging along behind.

I want to talk more about following in the sense of coming to imitate the one in whom we have become obsessed by the way of the move of the Spirit.

Jesus seems to be offering us No instructions to these would-be fathers of the church on how they should create followers or how they should lead those would-be followers.

Rather, Yeshua is teaching them how to serve and how to love one another in an other-centered way.

After all, this is an important piece.

I would go so far as to say it's the second most important piece, second only to being one with the Father, Son, and Spirit in Jesus' high priestly prayer in John 17, where he says to them, the way that you guys love one another will become the testimony to the reality that I'm the sent one of the Father." Man, it's beautiful, isn't it? It's the testimony to the reality that I'm the sent one of the Father.

Man, I feel this so strongly.

I talked in a previous Under the Oaks gathering, and I wanted to reference this today without getting too far off course already, but Apostle Ball had a gathering of his spiritual sons that would gather sometimes in Panama City and sometimes in Atlanta.

And I believe he came to call that Under the Oak.

Is that correct? Under the Oak, singular.

We multiplied it.

We're Under the Oaks now.

But one of the things that was always evident was that Yahweh plants a man, and in the planting of that man, he will allow that man and woman to grow together as a family, and a single seed becomes a family tree.

And when that single seed becomes a family tree, you'll ultimately find that nations will be able to find rest and shade under that tree, but also that that tree will put off acorns that can multiply into forest if we can go through the process of becoming who it is that he's designed us to be.

So that was an ode to Apostle Paul that we called this Under the Oaks because I did not want... what happened with him to stop with him and I didn't want what happened with him to stop just in his sons but as a spiritual grandson I wanted to be able he didn't like that language but but he's here but he's not going to correct that so so he we we we we love the idea that we get to be a part of something bigger than ourselves and that comes by way of making the decision to remain tethered and i mentioned that this morning i made a decision to remain tethered and he's made a decision to remain tethered and we've made a decision to remain tethered and those are not decisions you come to regret they really are not so we talked in a previous under the oaks gathering about uh becoming the first worshiper and in that begin to share some revelation about david uh being identified as a man of war when he was initially identified as a man of worship and allowing the mixture of that misidentification to actually cost him from being able to be, I believe, the father he was designed to be.

As much as we celebrate David, I believe it also cost him the ability to move into rest and think in terms of generation, not just taking territory.

Generations instead of just taking territory.

May we as leaders think less in terms of how to win the city and may we come to think more in terms of how to turn our hearts to sons and sons to turn their hearts to fathers and let that be the great manifestation of revival that we've come to be known for and that we long for.

so i want to give you something i wrote on the beach maybe a month or so ago shared it with tammy shared it also with kk and and elijah and maddie maybe just maybe the definition of what it actually means to be a great leader is to in essence be the first follower rather than becoming experts on leadership what if we had the integrity and humility to admit that we are novices at following both the ways and the person of jesus Remember Paul said, imitate me as I imitate Christ.

Not identifying himself as a great leader, but identifying himself rather as a great imitator of the great leader.

We talked about that word imitate that is translated sometimes follow, which is an inferior translation.

Imitate is a great translation.

Mimites is the word in Greek, and it's literally where we get our English word mimic.

So he's saying, mimic me as I mimic Christ.

That's 1 Corinthians 11, 1.

And I want to talk a little bit tonight about following, but following less in the sense of just lagging along behind.

I want to talk more about following in the sense of coming to imitate the one in whom we have become obsessed by the way of the move of the Spirit.

Jesus seems to be offering us No instructions to these would-be fathers of the church on how they should create followers or how they should lead those would-be followers.

Rather, Yeshua is teaching them how to serve and how to love one another in an other-centered way.

After all, this is an important piece.

I would go so far as to say it's the second most important piece, second only to being one with the Father, Son, and Spirit in Jesus' high priestly prayer in John 17, where he says to them, the way that you guys love one another will become the testimony to the reality that I'm the sent one of the Father." Man, it's beautiful, isn't it? It's the testimony to the reality that I'm the sent one of the Father.